I know none of you care but ........ (the Baseball thread)

[olaftab]

OK URS every time I find baseball whilst surfacing the channel I start watching but give up easily. I sort of think it’s like rounders but I don’t understand scoring. So to help me please can you explain this score card:

[Brazilian Villain]

It's the bottom of the 7th inning  (just after the 7th inning stretch) and the Pirates are leading the Cubs 8-4. No runner is on base, 2 of the 3 batters are out, and the current batter O'Hearn, (who I think is No. 5 in the line-up) has 1 ball and 1 strike. Looks like the pitcher, Civale, has thrown 26 balls so far.

[UK Redsox]

Civale had thrown 26 pitches. The graphic doesn't say how many were 'balls' and how many were 'strikes'

[Brazilian Villain]

Civale had thrown 26 pitches. The graphic doesn't say how many were 'balls' and how many were 'strikes'

That's actually what I meant, I was admittedly loose with my terminology.

In short, it means the Pirates were pretty unlikely to score in that inning, as they were down to their third (last) batter and had no runners on base. If the pitcher gets 3 strikes then the batter is out, if he throws 4 balls then the batter walks to the first base.